U.S. home prices continued to climb in March as a persistent shortage of homes for sale helped to buoy the housing market, according to the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Home Price Index.And while prospective homebuyers cope with the challenges of rising housing unaffordability, existing homeowner

Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, announced on Monday that it has hired Shawn Malhotra, a former Thomson Reuters and Intel executive, as the first chief technology officer (CTO) in the company’s history.   Malhotra will oversee, among other areas, the firm’s artificial intelligence (A

A coalition of four lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives — two Democrats and two Republicans — have come together to found the Bipartisan Congressional Real Estate Caucus, a group designed to “support policies that allow [the real estate] industry to prosper” due to its overall importance

Representatives of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the Housing Policy Council (HPC) are urging leaders at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to delay a mandatory compliance date with the agency’s Veteran Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, which aims to prevent foreclosur

My model for inventory growth with higher mortgage rates came crashing down last week. After two weeks of significant increases, inventory growth slowed dramatically and is far from my 11,000-17,000 growth model with mortgage rates over 7.25%. Did the recent dip in mortgage rates play a role here or

Friday’s jobs report came in as a miss of estimates and wage growth came in lower than expected. The labor market isn’t tight anymore and that will eventually be good news for mortgage rates. After last month’s jobs report, I talked about the path the Federal Reserve could take to land the plane bas

Earlier this week, Zillow launched a new “touring agreement,” a nonexclusive contract for buyers and agents to use for home tours. The real estate giant was prompted to do this by the terms of  National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement which requires agents to h

No matter where you are in the Tar Heel State, real estate professionals across North Carolina are frustrated by the lack of housing inventory.“The challenge remains lack of inventory — that’s definitely the big one,” said Alison Alston, the broker-owner of Charlotte-based Lodestone Real Estate and

The tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut may face a housing gap of 920,000 units by 2035, a new report published by the Regional Plan Association (RPA) found. The analysis, conducted by McKinsey & Co., highlights a current shortage of 540,000 housing units in the region.To address

A bill that will permanently allow for remote reverse mortgage counseling via telephone or video conferencing services in the state of Massachusetts has been signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey (D), doing away with a strict face-to-face requirement that has stretched the state’s counseling resource

The business practice changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement,will go into effect on Aug. 17, 2024, according to a letter sent to members on Friday by NAR chief legal officer Katie Johnson.Originally, the trade group had said the practi

eXp Realty has acquired Broker’s LLC, a 500-agent independent brokerage based in South Florida and founded by Claudia Serna, eXp announced on Thursday.“Claudia’s impressive track record and the entrepreneurial spirit of Broker’s LLC align perfectly with our values and vision,” Leo Pareja, CEO of eXp

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on Friday published Mortgagee Letter 2024-08, which extends a foreclosure moratorium on the Hawaiian island of Maui through Aug. 4, 2024, for FHA-insured forward mortgages and Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs).The moratorium, initially scheduled to exp

Proptech company RealReports is partnering with New England-based PrimeMLS, the companies announced on Thursday. As a result, PrimeMLS’s 12,000 member agents will have access to RealReports’s wealth of property data.RealReports is a real estate platform that gathers property data — including permits

In real estate, short-term rentals (STRs) have carved a niche that extends far beyond the heyday of basic room rentals. This market has transformed in recent years, offering travelers a range of unique experiences while providing property owners with an appealing stream of income.While it may seem l

Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, delivered a profit in the first quarter of 2024 through initiatives to reduce costs and increased investments in artificial intelligence (AI). In a contracting market, competitors exiting the space have allowed the company to improve market share and

The number one rule of the marketplace is to understand your customer. Knowing what they need, what they want and what they fear is fundamental for success. The housing market has shifted. Today it’s dominated by baby boomers who make up 39% of all homebuyers and 52% of all home sellers.Known as “Pe

Ocwen Financial Corp., parent company of PHH Mortgage Corp. and Liberty Reverse Mortgage, reported an overall improvement in its business performance for the first quarter of 2024 — including better reverse mortgage performance attributed to servicing and higher gains on loans held for sale.Under ge

Top U.S. loan officer Timothy Potempa has departed Dallas-based multichannel lender OneTrust Home Loans to join E Mortgage Capital, bringing his team of about 40 people and more than $300 million in annual production to the company headquartered in California. “I’ve been in the industry since I was

Redlands, California-based mortgage lender Mountain West Financial has struck a deal to sell its retail assets to competitor ML Mortgage Corp., one of the latest M&A transactions amid a challenging landscape for home loan originators. “We did transfer our branches and loan officers to ML Mortgage. W